Dave DeLaurant
Member
There are good reasons for owning a PCC all by itself these days. When you go back in time, the original idea was to carry the same ammunition for both rifle and handgun. The 44-40, 38-40 and 32-20 were popular choices for this purpose when revolvers and leverguns likely combinations. Those guns and cartridges will still do the job today, and have been joined more recently by autoloading combos in 9x19, 40 S&W, 10mm Auto and .45 ACP.
Back in the mid-1990s I was looking for a little rifle that would do two things: a centerfire small game rifle along the lines of a British rook and rabbit rifle, and another platform for my favorite handgun cartridge at the time, 9x23 Largo. I was having a fine time following the Sociedad Largo email listserve and at one point I had four Astra M400s and a Star Modelo Super. I also had a couple of bolt action Destroyer carbines, but their build quality was less than stellar and I sold them off.
I'd made friends by mail (the paper kind) with Richard Nickel in Washington and knowing a first-rate reboring specialist was an opportunity I didn't want to pass up. I bought a fitted extra barrel in .22 Hornet for my SB2 Handirifle from NEF and shipped it up to Dick with my Clymer .38 Super chamber finish reamer. After he rebored and chambered the barrel for me, I had it Parkerized and engraved with the new chambering. Since my Spanish pistolas would take both 9x23 Largo and .38 ACP interchangably, I wanted to do the same with this rifle. I swapped out the .22 Hornet extractor with one for .223 Remington, which had no problems ejecting rimless cases. I installed a Williams aluminum peep rear sight at first, but later substituted a more sturdy steel sight from Nodak Spud.
In the years since I had this carbine barrel made my Spanish collection has been reduced to just the Astras. On the other hand I've recently acquired a 1911 in .38 Super, and just last week took home a Husqvarna M1907 in 9x20 Browning Long. The latter uses a .38 ACP/Super case shortened 3mm, so it works just fine in the carbine by headspacing on its semi-rim.
Somewhere along the way I became curious and tried firing 9x19 Parabellum, carefully inserting the case so it would headspace on the extractor. Whaddya know, it worked just fine. Good to know in a pinch.
I'm not sure whether this carbine is especially practical for much of anything, except perhaps small game hunting. It is one heck of a lot of fun to shoot, and I guess it gives me bragging rights to having a rifle that can be combined with handguns using at least five different cartridges: .38 Super Auto, .38 ACP, 9x23 Largo, 9x20 Browning Long and 9x19 Parabellum. I did a test on Friday to see how it would group using one round of each cartridge:
I suppose it might also work with 9x23 Winchester or 9x23 Steyr, but I haven't checked to be sure.
Back in the mid-1990s I was looking for a little rifle that would do two things: a centerfire small game rifle along the lines of a British rook and rabbit rifle, and another platform for my favorite handgun cartridge at the time, 9x23 Largo. I was having a fine time following the Sociedad Largo email listserve and at one point I had four Astra M400s and a Star Modelo Super. I also had a couple of bolt action Destroyer carbines, but their build quality was less than stellar and I sold them off.
I'd made friends by mail (the paper kind) with Richard Nickel in Washington and knowing a first-rate reboring specialist was an opportunity I didn't want to pass up. I bought a fitted extra barrel in .22 Hornet for my SB2 Handirifle from NEF and shipped it up to Dick with my Clymer .38 Super chamber finish reamer. After he rebored and chambered the barrel for me, I had it Parkerized and engraved with the new chambering. Since my Spanish pistolas would take both 9x23 Largo and .38 ACP interchangably, I wanted to do the same with this rifle. I swapped out the .22 Hornet extractor with one for .223 Remington, which had no problems ejecting rimless cases. I installed a Williams aluminum peep rear sight at first, but later substituted a more sturdy steel sight from Nodak Spud.
In the years since I had this carbine barrel made my Spanish collection has been reduced to just the Astras. On the other hand I've recently acquired a 1911 in .38 Super, and just last week took home a Husqvarna M1907 in 9x20 Browning Long. The latter uses a .38 ACP/Super case shortened 3mm, so it works just fine in the carbine by headspacing on its semi-rim.
Somewhere along the way I became curious and tried firing 9x19 Parabellum, carefully inserting the case so it would headspace on the extractor. Whaddya know, it worked just fine. Good to know in a pinch.
I'm not sure whether this carbine is especially practical for much of anything, except perhaps small game hunting. It is one heck of a lot of fun to shoot, and I guess it gives me bragging rights to having a rifle that can be combined with handguns using at least five different cartridges: .38 Super Auto, .38 ACP, 9x23 Largo, 9x20 Browning Long and 9x19 Parabellum. I did a test on Friday to see how it would group using one round of each cartridge:
I suppose it might also work with 9x23 Winchester or 9x23 Steyr, but I haven't checked to be sure.
